Advantages

Disadvantages

Not worth the price when you can get something just as effective for much less

For my birthday last month I decided to treat myself to a new Yves St Laurent Touche Eclat pen. When I hit the YSL counter in Debenhams the saleswoman pointed me in the direction of a gift set which included not just Touche Eclat but also Top Secrets, which is an under eye emulsion, a trial size eye make up remover and a trial size mascara. Ordinarily I wouldn't have given this set much thought but it came in at just over £40 thanks to 10% off but more importantly the over £40 spend added a £5 bonus to my Debenhams Beauty Card so I decided to buy.

~~The Product~~

Top Secrets looks just like the Touche Eclat pen except the main section of it is white. This does make it look a little cheaper than Touche Eclat in spite of the gold lettering on the pen.

When you open the pen up instead of being met by a brush, there is a roller ball for applying the emulsion. The idea behind Top Secrets is to lessen puffiness around the eyes and also to enhance the area by using highlighting capabilities to brighten the under eye area. YSL also claim the pen will help lessen the visibility of dark circles.

The product works best under make up but if you need a pick me up in the morning and don't have time to apply the full slap the pen will help brighten up the eye area for you.

You get 2.5 ml of product in each pen and the RRP for this product is £26 but shop around - you can get it for less.

~~My Thoughts~~

I recently reviewed Soap & Glory's You Won't Believe Your Eyes serum which fulfils a similar function to Top Secrets. The packaging for these products is slightly different but both are essentially roll on products which are designed to brighten and highlight the under eye area.

The YSL product, for all the white plastic on the pen, does have far sleeker packaging than the Soap & Glory product and I expect that would explain the huge price differential of over £15 - which doesn't even consider the fact you get over ten times as much product with Soap & Glory. Unfortunately for YSL the actual delivery of product is a bit unreliable with Top Secrets, which I must admit surprised me as I have used Touche Eclat for years and have never been let down by the design of the pen which requires you to push the button at the bottom to deliver the product. With Top Secrets the button on the pen isn't anything like as efficient and sometimes gets stuck which is incredibly irritating with a product as expensive as this.

The eye emulsion itself is white in colour and you only need to see a small amount around the ball at the top of the pen to know there is enough to apply. When you apply the product to your eye you do get a cooling effect but it's nowhere near as noticeable as with the Soap & Glory product. Also, because this only has a single ball to apply the eye emulsion you don't get the lovely massaging effect the three balls on the Soap & Glory serum give you.

As for how effective this is, well I would have to question YSL's claim that it targets fine lines - I certainly notice no difference to lines when I wear this, but it certainly does brighten up my undereye area. The highlighting capabilities draw attention away from my dark circles and I find the puffiness lessens when I wear this.

Top Secrets also feels very nice on my skin, giving a gentle cooling sensation as it absorbs. I do find it takes a good five minutes for it to absorb fully and as such I wouldn't recommend you apply this and then apply foundation - wait a few minutes first.

Unfortunately the price really lets Top Secrets down. I have tried cheaper versions of Touche Eclat and been unimpressed by them but when it comes to Top Secrets the cost cannot be justified as cheaper products are just as good. In fact I would say the triple ball applicator on You Won't Believe Your Eyes is better than the ball on Top Secrets, never mind the fact you get so much more for your money.

Yes Top Secrets looks nice but for £26 I'd be expecting something that knocked the socks off cheaper products and sadly this is merely as good as anything else I have tried. If I had gone out of my way to buy this I would be feeling rather disappointed but as I got it in a set and paid less than the RRP I don't mind quite so much.

So my advice would be to check out cheaper products if you are in the market for a product to brighten up your eyes as this one, whilst decent enough, doesn't warrant the huge price tag.